That mound of green is one of our current success stories in the garden, but not in the way we expected.

It’s sweet potato, and it’s the best example of my pivot from temperate to sub-tropical plants, matching the shift in Sydney’s climate. It isn’t eaten by slugs, snails, caterpillars or other bugs. It’s not affected by powdery mildew, rusts or other fungal diseases. It’s not even slightly stressed by 40deg heat.

Last season, however, it completely failed to provide edible tubers. Doh 😦

And then I saw on Gardening Australia that sweet potato leaves are edible. Eureka!

They’re treated like spinach leaves, steamed, fried or sautéed. They’re delicious, and we use them in salads, as a green alongside meat, or in stir-fries.

They’ve become all our all-year, all-weather source of greens. But let’s hope that this season they also give us actual sweet potatoes!